By the Sea
by Shiba Ayame
Summary: Ember Island really does change one's outlook on life, Zuko realized that now. Zutara oneshot. Dedicated to the Zutara shippers on deviantART.


Yeah... I might as well join the "I Hate Mai" club... cause she's just flat out annoying. . But Zutara FTW Disclaimer: Don't own Avatar. But I have subscribed to the Avatar: Deleted Scenes series on YouTube... subscribe, people!

Dedicated to Foxysuji, Irrel, greenifyME and bellagirldee on DA. This fic uses the Zutara fanarts "10. peace", "Theater Zutara", "Zutara Surpsie 2", and "Zutara Fall Evening" respectively. Check them out!

WARNING: contains Book Three spoilers. If you haven't seen it yet, don't read.

By the Sea

Oneshot

lolololololol

Being on Ember Island somehow had made Katara completely at peace. She didn't know if it was just because she'd missed being in a sea shore town or if it was because there were hardly any adults there at the time - as the Fire Nation school districts had just let out for a fall break, students had overrun the resort town.

The thing that probably calmed the group as a whole was that Zuko, having been there many times over the course of his life, knew his way around the place like the back of his hand. The Gaang was staying for the time being in the royal family's vacation estate, so they didn't need to pay any inn bills or anything.

Sokka was busy looking for food to make into a suitable dinner (which was code for "I'm gonna go watch the sunset with Suki, then we shall proceed to eat face"), Toph was working with Aang on his sandbending - which left Zuko, also on dinner duty, to go down to the docks to attempt fishing for their meal. He honestly didn't think anyone was missing from the house until he'd found Katara sitting on the mossy wood, feet dangling off the edge.

No words were needed as Zuko sat down with her, also removing his shoes to let his legs fall just above the water as he flung the hooked end of his fishing line into the salty solution. The former prince looked up at the waning sunlight, trying to mimic the colors it projected with a small ball of flames above his hand.

Katara, having noticed this, was now smiling - though the boy couldn't see through the back of his head. She silently pulled some of the salt water from the ocean below them, forming misty clouds and passing them in front of Zuko. His face displayed a perplexed look, but softened when he realized what the waterbender girl was doing - creating the clouds needed to splay the rainbow shades of his miniature sunset on.

The only sounds to break their silence there were a splash and Katara's giggling - once again, she'd managed to confound the older boy beside her by creating a large bowl of salt water, containing three or four larger fish for their supper.

"It looks like I've been bested," Zuko conceded, removing his baited hook from the water and wrapping the line around his fishing pole.

oOoOoOo

After dinner it was decided that the Gaang would again go out to see the Ember Island Players, in a show much shorter than the one they had seen previously. It was supposed to be a romantic comedy, about a love triangle between a boy and two girls. Sokka was almost adamant about not going, but after a few whispered comments from his Kiyoshi warrior girlfriend, all conflict was resolved and the Water Tribesman consented to go.

"I'm gonna go find the bathroom, I'll be back before it starts, ok?" said Toph; Suki went with her, just to make sure she found it all right and came back to the right spot. Sokka decided to look for something tasty to eat, and needless to say the Avatar got swept up in his 'quest to find the ultimate theatre snack'. After their little crowd had dispersed, the rest of the day's theatre-goers rushed in to take their seats. Katara pulled Zuko to the side, in order to avoid being run over, and the two made their way to an outdoor balcony.

"It was too hot in there," Katara commennted, leaning forward and resting her arms on a railing. "The sunset's gorgeous."

"Yeah," Zuko agreed, lowering himself to also rest on the wood. Silence passed between them, though niether was uneasy. The air was comfortable between the two.

"You know," the waterbender started, "I'm kind of guilty about bringing Aang back here. I mean, he was so upset after the ending of the play about us, and trust me, it wasn't just the fact that he was supposedly defeated by Ozai." Katara took a deep breath, looking out into the twilight over the sea, letting the breeze tousle her hair. "Maybe we shouldn't have come-"

"Just because the Avatar isn't the happiest guy in the world doesn't mean that other people can't have fun," the former prince stated, catching her attention. "If something's gonna happen during the comet that isn't planned, we might as well have the time of our lives now."

"But what if -"

"No, don't think about what can happen," Zuko told her sternly, placing his hands on the sides of her face to force the girl into looking back at him and listening. "No matter what happens a few days from now, it happens."

Katara raised her hands to cover his, pulling them down from the sides of her face. She then leaned forward, stepping on the tips of her toes to wrap her arms around the exiled boy's neck. She pressed her lips to his briefly, pulling back to stare him square in the eyes. "That was on my 'things to do before the apocalypse' list."

"Well fine then," Zuko supplied, "this is on mine." And with that his arms snaked their way around her waist and he bent his head down to kiss her again, leaving the girl not at all suprised when he nibbled lightly on her bottom lip.

"Oh for the love of Agni," complaied a voice from the door back inside, "I may be blind, but I can still tell that you two are eating face." Toph's foot was anxiously tapping the ground, while Suki gave the two a knowing smile. "Come on, it's about to start," said the earthbender, turning to make her way back into the theatre. "And no, we won't tell the guys. Sokka would try to kill Zuko in his sleep."

The romantic comedy turned out to be rather amusing, Toph laughing along with the crowd because the dialogue was just as funny as the movement she couldn't see from their seats in the "nosebleed section," as she'd called it. Suki was trying to get Sokka to stop ranting about how the gorgeous bimbo definitely shouldn't get the guy, it should be the mute girl with personality that he should marry. And the Avatar, devoting all his attention to the floor in attempts to count the wood grains in the dark, didn't notice the blushes on Katara and Zuko's faces, or their fingers lacing on the arm rest between them.

lolololololol

Images used in order: "Zutara Fall Evening", "10 peace", "Zutara Suprise 2" and "Theater Zutara." All credit goes to those artists.

For anyone interested, on Friday of this year's Otakon (2008, by the way) I'll be at the Avatar photoshoot. I was originally going as Tai Lee, but I ended up changing to an original Katara design. Pics will be up on my DA after the convention - username same as this writing account.

Review? Review.


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